> With the demise of the small > local stores, we're all driving, and getting more at one time. One could say that all of us driving to the supermarkets brought the demise of the local stores. I saw it happen in my little home town in Nebraska. The local stores were not able to compete with the supermarkets, and people were eager to drive the distances to save a few dollars on their groceries. Mona Mona_Houser@juno.com ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

"Why it's the model-T Ford that made the trouble made the people wanna go, wanna get, wanna get wanna get up und go, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, twenty two, twenty three miles to the county seat <yes sir, yes sir> who's gonna patronise the little bitty two by four kinda store anymore?" - The Music Man Ivan Illich calls the automobile a radical monopoly - a product that makes other competing methods impossible or much more difficult. Yet it does not seem to have driven out walking, bicycles, buses, or trains in Europe. An advantage of more people in closer proximity, or just more planning. My Swiss host was shocked when we compared how many people die in auto accidents in our countries - 300 versus 40,000. Perhaps not so different if you compare based on population or passenger miles. I find it astounding how far people drive to work in this country. One of the Germans I met was travelling an hour each way to work in Switzerland. Another was going about 15 k to her job. Another thing that I noticed was that my early morning train from Burbach to Haiger to Köln filled up with schoolkids at some point, many of them apparently in gradeschool. That certainly would be a boost to the public transportation system if it happens all over Europe. Here, we have a separate und costly system of schoolbuses - money which could be used in a general system of public transportation. However, I can see parents here having very real safety concerns about their kids being on buses with adult commuters und tourists und shoppers. Is Europe safer? Before I left, my family seemed all worried that I would wander into a bad part of Stuttgart or Amsterdam und be mugged, that the airports und train stations would be full of pickpockets und thieves. I did not notice such things, but except for Strassbourg und bried train stops, I stayed away from larger cities. Thomas Koch - a short drive from the new Music Man square ----- Original Message ----- From: <mona_houser@juno.com> To: <GERMAN-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 10:04 PM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-LIFE] German walking habits > > With the demise of the small > > local stores, we're all driving, and getting more at one time. > > One could say that all of us driving to the supermarkets brought the > demise of the local stores. > > I saw it happen in my little home town in Nebraska. The local stores > were not able to compete with the supermarkets, and people were eager to > drive the distances to save a few dollars on their groceries. > > Mona > Mona_Houser@juno.com > > ________________________________________________________________ > GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! > Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! > Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > > ==== GERMAN-LIFE Mailing List ==== > GERMAN-FOOD-L@rootsweb.com to subscribe send a message to: > GERMAN-FOOD-L-request@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > Create a FREE family website at MyFamily.com! > http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST2 > >